Press release

14 November 2007

Scottish Government adopts the Ecological Footprint as a performance measure

The Scottish Government will use the Ecological Footprint as one of its performance measures which was announced on 14 November 2007 as part of the Spending Review. The National Performance Framework includes a national outcome of: “... reduce the local and
global environmental impact of our consumption and production" and a national indicator and target: "reducing our Ecological Footprint.” The over-arching purpose for the Government is to “create a more successful country, with opportunities for all to flourish, through increasing sustainable economic growth.”

The whole of the public sector is expected to contribute to the one overarching Purpose and all performance management systems.

The Spending Review also notes the Government's ambition of 'reducing carbon emissions by 80% by 2050'. The Local Footprints Project has just issued a consumption based analysis of Scotland's Carbon Footprint, based on our 32 local authorities.

The Economic Strategy, released on 13 November 2007, included similar messages, including a commitment to improve intergenerational equity -"improving Scotland's environment today and for future generations, while significantly reducing Scotland's negative impact on the global environment."

Moreover, the Economic Strategy notes that “while Scotland's greenhouse gas emissions fell faster between 1990 and 2005 than in most other EU15 countries, in 2005, Scotland still emitted more greenhouse gases per person than the EU15 average. These are, moreover, only the emissions we produce, not all the emissions resulting from the goods we consume (many of which are produced elsewhere). One way of measuring this is our ecological footprint, an estimate of the land and sea area needed to provide all the energy, water, transport, food and materials that we consume. The average Scot has an ecological footprint of 5.4 global hectares, significantly higher than the global average. If everyone on Earth lived the same way, it is estimated that three planets would be needed to sustain us.”

These two documents represent a significant commitment by the Scottish Government to moving Scotland towards one planet lifestyles, reducing our environmental impact on the rest of the world.